Professor Daniela A. Wilson (Radboud University), who was a postdoc in Perce Laboratory, has been designated as a Must-See Presenter by C&EN for ACS Fall 2019 National Meeting in San Diego (August 25–29, 2019).

Group Member Mitchell Young (affiliated with Temple University) was awarded The Barry Goldwater Scholarship.

The Barry Goldwater Scholarship is the most prestigious undergraduate scholarship in the natural sciences, mathematics, and engineering in America.

By providing scholarships to college sophomores and juniors who intend to pursue research careers in the natural sciences, mathematics, and engineering, the Goldwater Foundation is helping ensure that the U.S. is producing the number of highly-qualified professionals the Nation needs in these critical fields.

Mitchell is one of 496 U.S. college students selected for the scholarship this year from a pool of over 5,000 college sophomores and juniors nominated by 443 academic institutions.

Attached is a picture of the award and a picture of Mitchell (middle) with Professor Michael Klein (right), Dean of College of Science and Technology, Temple University, and Professor Jim Napolitano (left), Chair of Department of Physics, Temple University.

Group Member William (Billy) Hasley won the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Delaware Valley Section Award for best academic record and demonstrating high promise in Chemical Engineering. Attached is a picture of the award and a picture of Billy with the Dean of Penn Engineering.

The paper reports by using atomic force microscopy images that were fast fourier-transformed, we found that sugars on the surface of synthetic cells organize themselves automatically into thin lamellar layered and hexagonal patterns. The shapes that the sugar molecules form allows the synthetic cells to be recognized by other cells and also enhances their reactivity with proteins.

“Tim is one of the most creative scientists working in the field of polymer chemistry and is a leader of our field. He is one of the very few members of our community who has taken polymer chemistry from fundamental development to commercial products that impact our daily life and create a safer society.”—Virgil Percec, University of Pennsylvania.

Professor Virgil Percec was listed in 2018 Highly Cited Researchers List from Clarivate Analytics. This list recognizes world-class researchers for their exceptional research performance based on multiple highly cited papers that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and year in Web of Science. Congratulations to Virgil.

Former Member Professor Andrea M. Kasko, Bioengineering, UCLA, was elected to Vice-Chair of American Chemical Society, Division of Polymer Chemistry. Andrea obtained her M.S.E. in Professor Virgil Percec’ group while in Macromolecular Science, Case Western Reserve University, Department of Macromolecular Science Engineering Cleveland, OH during 1997–1999.

Former Member Professor Ulrica Edlund, Fiber and Polymer Technology, School of Engineering Sciences of Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden, was elected to The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA). Professor Edlund‘s research interests focus on polymeric biomaterials, including their synthesis, surface modification and characterization, with potential applications as drug delivery matrices and more broadly in the field of tissue engineering.

Professor Ulrica Edlund was a postdoctoral research fellow in Percec’s group from 2000 to 2001. Among other projects, she contributed to the dipeptide project published in Nature (Nature2004, 430, 764–768).

The pictures show Professor Ulrica Edlund (on the right, in a blue dress) in the group of people being elected as new members.

Congratulations to Shitao Wang for being named an Associate Professor at the Beijing University of Chemical Technology! Below is a Q&A with Associate Professor Wang.

–What is your new title and when will you start your professorship?

My new position is the Associate Professor in the Beijing University of Chemical Technology, China. And I would like to start my professorship in October.

-Tell me more about your background and where you received previous education.

I obtained my bachelor’s degree at Zhengzhou University (2010) in polymer science and engineering, and master’s degree in 2013 in organic chemistry (research filed: organic optoelectronic material science) at Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. After that, I joined professor Makoto Fujita’s lab at the University of Tokyo, Japan and obtained my Ph.D. degree in applied chemistry in 2016. During my Ph.D. study, most of my work was about the metal-organic ligand coordinated self-assembly in supramolecular chemistry and the host-guest chemistry.

-Why did you decide to do research in the Percec Group?

I decided to do research in the Percec group to broaden my research experience and to learn something different from my previous work. And also professor Percec is very famous for the self-assembly in the bulk state. His group developed the unique methodology to analyze the self-assembled structure in solid states, which is totally different from my Ph.D. study where most self-assembly was conducted in the solution state.

-What have you learned during your time in the Percec Group?

I have learned a lot after one year of study in Percec’s group such as how to synthesize Percec’s type dendrimers, how to analyze the self-assembled structures in the solid state, and much about xrd analysis.

-What are your research goals after leaving the Percec group? How has your time in the Percec group molded your future aspirations?

After leaving this group, I would like to put my research interest in material science. Hopefully, I can combine the chemistry and material science in my research and focus on their application. My unforgettable experience in this group inspired me that we should do our own unique research and should not always follow others’.

-Do you have any advice for aspiring professors or researchers?

To do scientific research, we should work hard, think hard, and be patient and strict with our experiments. To be the group leader, we should know how to make everyone involved in the project to be more efficient and make the project progress well. Finally, cooperation in scientific research is also very important.